2nd tray

Well, it's been a little bit since I updated this last. We just moved into our new home and the move went surprisingly well despite the fact that I started my 2nd Invisalign trays the night before the move. It felt tight and sore but less so than with the start of the 1st trays. I came home from work Wednesday night, took out tray 1 for dinner, ate and popped some Tylenol and put in tray 2 when we were done eating. I can feel it moving my upper front teeth and also my lower middle section. Today is Saturday and its starting to feel less like a vice grip on my teeth, so I guess they're cooperating and moving like they're supposed to.  I feel like I'm more in the rhythm with managing the invisalign and I have a little travel bag that I carry so I can take them out when eating on the go. It's becoming less of a nuisance and more of a way of life, so I'm happy about that. 2 weeks and 1 day down, 2nd tray of 26 in my mouth! Looking forward to finishing this and having beautiful straight teeth!

Clin-Check video of my teeth moving

Here is the Clin-Check video that shows my teeth and how they will move and eventually end up... hoping this works  :)

1 week down!

It's Friday 5/17/13 and I have made it to the 1 week mark! Yesterday the cleaning stuff I ordered (Retainer Brite) came and I got to use it this morning and it was so much easier than scrubbing the trays with a toothbrush and paste. Just drop the trays in a cup of water with one of the tablets and it starts off blue and the water turns clear when it's clean. I ate my breakfast and came back, did a quick rinse, and back in my mouth they went. Tried to reach the dentist again this morning and plan to ask about how often I can use that stuff- would love to do it twice a day, but don't want to ruin the trays either. Hopefully they call me back this time. I'm also still planning to see if they can email me the clin-check diagram/video of how my teeth are going to move. We'll see. I feel like I'm getting used to them now and I have a short list of items I plan to buy today that may make all of this easier. I want some little pencil/makeup bags to carry in my purse and work bag that will contain a travel size toothbrush and paste, a carrying case for the Invisalign, the little remover tool, and some floss. I think that will keep me more organized and I won't have a bunch of random things floating around in all of my bags. Each time I take out the trays to eat these days I can really notice how much my teeth have moved, so I'm eager to start the next tray already and see the change each one brings. 

back to work today

So, I was back to work today and tried to create a new AM routine. Woke up, invisalign out, teeth and trays brushed and then ate some breakfast and drank some coffee before brushing again and putting the trays back in to head to work. I have also started measuring my time with the trays out so I can keep track of achieving the 22 hours/day with trays on goal that Invisalign encourages. Today with all meals, I only had it out for 1 hour and 30 minutes. I'm sure there will be some days (mostly when I'm at home or we go out to eat) that it will be harder to get a full 22 hours of wear, but I'm off to a good start. I also am excited to see how much money we save by me eating b-fast at the house and not buying food at work. Today at work I found out that a girl named Lauren that I work with has been in Invisalign for a couple of months now and I really had never been able to tell. She even has attachments already, although hers are in the back, but she says she will be getting more and they will be in the front very soon. I'm sort of glad that I will be able to see them on someone else before I have them. The ones she has now really are much smaller and more discreet than I had imagined them to be. I also was seeing her during lunch though, so she didn't have trays on top of the attachments at that time. Will have to pay attention to her mouth more when she's not eating.  :)   Still wondering what I can do about the dry mouth that the trays give you. I have been drinking a TON of water and it doesn't really seem to help other than to make it feel better at that instant. Also, started using some mouthwash that is supposed to help improve enamel since I have been brushing so much. I think it helps, even if it's just to overwhelm my mouth with minty fresh flavor so I don't taste the plastic trays so much. So, that's about all the news for today. Tomorrow I work again and we have a going-away dinner to attend afterwards, so may take some work to reach the 22 hour goal.

5/14- photos- trays on

It may not be pretty but I was trying to show as many teeth as possible for a reference. This is day 4.

Here is a better view of a more normal smile.

And here is my "In a wind tunnel" look- (showing as many teeth as possible).

Invisalign- Week 1- tray 1

So, today is Tuesday 5/14 and  I started my first Invisalign tray on Friday 5/10. Had a hellacious weekend at work because my teeth were hurting and I wasn't yet used to speaking with the trays in my mouth. I also hadn't yet gotten a routine set for taking them in and out when eating. I highly recommend anyone who is about to start to consider starting when you have a few days to get used to it before working two 13 hour shifts in a row. On top of all that, my bottom tray had sharp jagged edges that I didn't notice while at the dentist trying out and learning how to put in and take out the trays. I left there and on Sunday had an emotional breakdown about how much they were hurting my tongue and about how Frankenstein-ish I thought my teeth were going to look once the attachments get placed in June. I'm not sure if part of it is being hormonal at 15 weeks pregnant, or if I would be this concerned otherwise, but I was not prepared for how demanding Invisalign can be and how much it can require someone to adjust and modify their schedule and eating routine. Before leaving work on Sunday I asked Ashley (a girl I work with who has been using Invisalign for some time now) if she had as much pain with starting Invisalign and how she dealt with her tongue getting all cut up. She said her dentist told her she could use a nail file to file the corners and jagged edges down without doing any harm, so when I got home, I tried to do just that on my inner bottom tray and surprisingly it has helped SOOOOO much! I have had complete pain relief and am now just waiting for my tongue to stop being sore from what it endured for those 2 1/2 days. So glad I heard that tip when I did because I was seriously wondering how I could endure a full year of that torture. It's now a few days after making that adjustment and I am starting to feel more confident about the process. I was really wondering if I just wasted almost $5000! The trays are going in and out much easier now than they did over the weekend and I was having some serious soreness when I would put the tray back in after eating which was keeping me from eating. Not such a good thing at almost 4 months preggo. Nowadays, I am not having pain when I put the trays back in but I am grazing less on food and having planned out meals to limit how often and for how long the trays are out of my mouth. This is a good thing since when I grazed, it tended to be on unhealthy junk food that would be brought into work- cookies and donuts from families as well as expensive frilly coffees that I didn't need to be spending lots of money on anyways. Today Steve and I went to eat at Mexico Lindo and I took the trays out and left them at home while we went out to eat. It's pretty encouraging that I already feel like my teeth have moved and its been less than a week. When the trays are out I can feel my teeth touching on top and bottom in different places than they did before. Today I was off work and spent a good part of the day googling invisalign and reading a few different people's blogs on their experience. I decided that maybe doing the same thing will help encourage me to feel empowered about doing this instead of depressed and embarrassed and in pain wanting to quit when things are tougher. I know when I get my attachments, it will be pretty challenging, not only because of the physical pain but also in a vain way, I am going to be sad about how they look I think. They aren't quite as invisible as I was hoping they would be before starting the procedure. I was definitely in shock when I saw the ClinCheck and realized how many attachments there would be on my teeth. I was expecting maybe 2 on each tray and that they would be toward the back of my mouth and not noticeable. That was NOT the case. There are tons of attachments (I don't remember how many exactly but plan to ask for an email with an attachment of the ClinCheck so I can look at it some more, and hopefully link it to this blog). I just know there were some on my front teeth and it is going to be really hard for me to feel comfortable smiling and showing my teeth when they have weird bumps all over them. Maybe by then, I will be feeling proud to show off how my teeth are changing and won't mind people seeing it, but I'm not there yet. Still pretty nervous about it for sure. Anyway, I have had 2 days off which has made it easy to be able to take the trays in and out and brush each time, but tomorrow at work will take a bit more planning and preparation. I have to plan my meals and snacks and hopefully have an assignment and patients which will allow me the time to eat them. Hoping it's pretty easy to stick to the plan and that I don't have another emotional breakdown which could have been mostly related to fluctuating hormones since I am feeling less panicked. It could also be that I am increasing my Invisalign knowledge and so making it easier on myself by being prepared for what to expect. Just ordered one extra case and some tray cleaning stuff called Bright Rite (??). Thinking maybe I need to invest in a few more tray removing hooks as well (only got 1 with 2 trays when I started treatment). I haven't had to use the one I have yet, but have read that they become much more difficult to take off once the attachments are added and since I will have to many, it could be a serious problem if I need to remove them to eat and forgot the hook in another purse or at home. I'm planning to keep one case and hook in my purse, one of each in my work bag, and one of each at the house. I guess that's all for now. I'm planning to take some pictures of my teeth and the first trays so I can compare as I progress and my teeth begin taking shape.